U.K. Pat. No. 622,418 discloses a rolling bearing in which a cover is held in a recess of the outer ring. The cover has a U-shaped cross section in the region of the outer seal and receives a seal of elastic material in the annular groove thereby formed in the cover. A groove having a boundary surface on both of its sides is machined in the edge of the inner ring inwardly from the shoulder surface, so that a small outer shoulder remains, with this outer shoulder forming a seal gap with the seal depending from the cover. The seal has a sealing lip at its inner edge, the lip running on the axially inner side surface of the groove of the inner ring with prestress. The prestress is produced as a result of the inwardly inclined mounting of the seal in the radially outer annular groove of the cover. The seal is thereby axially inwardly curved to a great extent and defines a relatively large hollow space with the cover, the hollow space extending from the outer mounting to the inner ring. An especial disadvantage of this seal arises from the fact that during use dirt particles and moisture entering through the gap between the cover and the inner ring are stored up or deposited in the hollow space and thereby change the prestress of the seal. Depending upon the embodiment of the seal, it can thereby be more greatly inwardly curved, giving rise to the danger of an undesirable contact with the bearing cage with the resultant lifting off of the sealing lip by tipping over the edge side surface of the groove to the shoulder. Furthermore, the greatly curved element requires a very large axial space for satisfactory operation, so that the known bearing requires considerably larger axial space than bearings having otherwise similar functions.